


Spider Ghost

by NervousOtaku (orphan_account)



Series: Tales of a 144 Player Fansession! [26]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Exposition, Ghosts, Kinda, SBURB Fan Session, Talking To Dead People
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-10 00:02:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10424784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/NervousOtaku
Summary: Or: Some Of The Ghosts You Meet While Out Wandering On This Planet Are Very Interesting





	

Pik bit his lip, not lowering his bow quite yet.

The ghost stared back at him, her blank gaze a challenge.

He _knew_ that shooting her wouldn't do any good. But she'd appeared so suddenly that he couldn't help but be wary.

She was different. Not human. Her skin was gray, reminding him of the two grimdark members of the team. But that wasn't the only thing different. She had horns, warmly colored and mismatched. One had a hook and the other a prong. There were tinges of blue around her eyes, and fangs poked out over her blue-painted lips. She wore a blue dress that reminded him of both old dolls and poodle-skirts for some reason. She wasn't the first alien he'd seen, but she was certainly the first ghost that he'd watched appear.

After another minute of standoff, Pik relaxed, slinging his bow over his back and breaking out in his usual smile.

“Hello,” he greeted with a wave, “I'm Pik! Pik Maroon! Are you new around here?”

“... You're alive.” she observed before looking at her hands.

Oh, she must have died recently. He'd already met a few other ghosts who'd had the same dysphoria about the whole death-thing. Was that the right word? Dysphoria?

“Yep, alive and kicking! This is the Land of Dawn and Ghosts, one of two ghost-lands in my session. The spirits of the uneasy dead appear here until I lay them to rest, and the spirits of the wrongfully killed appear on the Land of Echoes and Ghosts until the Bard of Time lays them to rest! These things make up our quests! Oh, the quests are—”

“I played the game. I _know_ how the quests work.” the alien-ghost replied with a frown.

“Oh! Alright! Then you already know all about those things!” Pik nodded. “If you don't mind my asking, what has you so uneasy? My quest is to lay all the spirits here to rest, presumably at once, but if you tell me I can give you a head start!”

His question was rewarded with a glare. Pik didn't let his smile waver.

“That isn't your business.” she said rather curtly.

He nodded, waving a bit as he said, “I'm sorry to intrude! Please enjoy your stay!” and turned to leave.

He couldn't help but notice that she began to follow him. An impish streak worked it's way into his smile for a moment before vanishing.

For the most part, Pik acted as though the ghost-girl wasn't there. He wandered about his planet, waving to the tired little tortoise-consorts when he passed, chatting with some of the ghosts he knew by name. A few underlings attacked, but not many. The ghost-planets seemed to unnerve a lot of the underlings, to be honest. Maybe it had to do with the occasional underling-ghost?

It was when he was on his way back home that the alien-ghost spoke up again.

“What exactly is your Classpect? Others light up around you.”

“I'm the Heir of Heart. I encourage positivity and good emotions in others, and inspire them to grow in the best ways.” Pik replied.

“I see...”

“What was yours?” he asked conversationally.

“... I was the Sylph of Light.”

“A healer of truth, a bringer of luck, and a giver of information. Like Marisol.”

“Another ghost?”

“Nope! One of my teammates! I don't know her very well, though. Mostly through other players.”

“How many players do you _have_ , to not know your teammates well... even _we_ didn't perform so poorly...”

“We have a hundred and forty-four players, one of each basic Classpect!”

He could practically _hear_ her jaw drop.

“We're working on getting to know people, though! Our Blood-players are helping a lot!” Pik grinned. “And Time-shenanigans, memos, friends of friends... But it's a good thing Britt has stolen all this time for us, we'd be dead already without him!”

“You're cheating the system?!”

“More than half the Classpects are all about that, aren't they?” Pik pointed out.

The girl was quiet, appearing to digest this information.

As they approached his house, Pik noticed a green-clad figure waiting outside the door. He had to get closer before seeing that this figure was wearing Sylph robes and had feathery pinkish hair.

“Yo! Mariam!” he called, waving.

The Sylph started towards them before they could reach her.

“Pik, I'm sorry to bother— Oh, did you make a friend?”

“Don't worry about it. And she's just someone I met. What'd you need?” Pik smiled. “And congrats on god-tiering! Nicely done!”

Mariam blushed a little, shaking her head. But then she straightened up with a serious expression. “Pik, I've already gone to Rolf about this, but I do need both of you to help me with this.”

He dropped the smile for a second before picking it back up. “What is it?”

The Sylph of Mind unslung her backpack, reaching in and rooting around the cards in there. Pik had always envied Mariam and others with bag-like Sylladexes. They seemed even more convenient than the Array-type Modi, though the users said it was a fair amount of work ensuring that cards were in the right order, easily accessible, and kept from damage.

After a moment of rummaging, Mariam pulled out a single card, standard size. She gave it a shake, and it dropped a folded-up piece of paper.

“Here,” she said, handing him the list, “Some of the others were wondering about the possibilities of their loved ones being on one of the ghost-planets. I complied a list of names and told everyone I'd look into it, but that they shouldn't get their hopes up.”

“Right, since only the uneasy come here, and only the wrongfully killed go to LOEAG.” Pik nodded, unfolding the paper to look at it. He was aware of the ghost-girl peeking over his shoulder.

“Yes, I made sure everyone was aware of that. I listed the deceased-names, and then the handles of the ones asking about them. In the event that you do find any of these ghosts, please message the appropriate person.”

Before Pik could say anything else, Mariam's watch beeped. She gasped, bolting off with a hurried apology and farewell. He chuckled, looking over the list again.

“What happens when none of these people are on either planet?” the ghost asked as he turned to go back out.

“Then we'll have a lot of feeling-jam sessions going on. I'm counting forty names on this list, and we only have twenty-eight therapists, fewer if we count the ones written here.” Pik replied. As he walked into one stretch of land, he waved towards a rocking outcropping. There was the ghost of a man who liked to hide over there and ambush unsuspecting passersby. He'd become familiar with the hyper-active adult spirit very early on, screaming and jumping a lot at first. Not any more, and he rarely saw the man, but he always waved.

The ghost was quiet again, following him still.

With a sly grin, Pik looked back at her and asked, “If you're going to follow me while I search, do you care to tell me about your session, Miss Sylph?”

She was quiet for a while, but then sighed.

“I should probably tell you a bit about my planet first, so you have some background...”


End file.
